This briefing the first in a series describing a programme of the Howard League for Penal Reform, which is intended to clarify why so many children in residential care in England and Wales are being criminalised at higher rates than their peers and identify examples of best practice to prevent their unnecessary criminalisation. 

This paper, based on findings from a consultative process with a variety of actors, captures a multitude of concrete recommendations for more efficient and harmonized policies and practices, taking into account the best interests of unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in Europe. 

Under England's new fostering to adopt legislation, birth mothers may find temporary foster care arrangements turn into permanent adoption, with limited access to free legal advice. 

This article focuses on the relationship between economic inequality and out-of-home care and child protection interventions in England.

A nine-year-old boy was returned to residential care after his foster family did not receive the additional psychological supports requested, revealing strain on social workers and lack of support for foster carers and children in care. 

This qualitative study, embedded in a randomised trial of the Group Family Nurse Partnership (gFNP) program, was designed to explore the challenges faced by women with experience in the care system during pregnancy and early parenthood and to assess the potential of gFNP to meet their needs through the perspectives of a range of informants.

This study describes the school functioning of a sample of 1,216 children aged between 8 and 18 living in residential child care in Spain. Results have important implications for the design of socio-educative intervention strategies in both education and child care systems in order to promote better school achievement and better educational qualifications in this vulnerable group.

This paper analyses comparative child welfare administrative data from each of the four jurisdictions of the UK over a ten-year period to examine rates and patterns of public care for children. 

This report offers 18 recommendations across the key themes of employment, housing and mental health, aimed at improving outcomes for young people from less advantaged backgrounds in Scotland. 

Avons-nous progresse? Est-ce mieux ailleurs? Comment-relever les nouveaux defis?